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Opinion: Editorials

From the Editorial Advisory Board: GOP Danish

Posted:
03/25/2016 07:40:40 PM MDT

Paul Danish and Jacqueline Lange wait for people to sign in at a Republican caucus at Mountain View Elementary in March 2014. Danish announced last weekend that he's run for the Boulder County Commission as a Republican. (Lewis Geyer / Longmont Times-Call)

This week's topic: What do you make of Paul Danish's decision to run for the county commission as a Republican? Does he have a shot?

How about that Paul Danish? Is he rising out of ashes to champion the Republican cause? Or is he just bored and following a Boulder County tradition of leaving office and then getting back in the game? It doesn't matter. He will add entertainment and some substance to what would otherwise be a bland campaign. In the very unlikely event that he becomes county commissioner again, he will add some unpredictability, not to mention gender balance, to a very predictable group. He is a veteran campaigner, and has, say, a 5 percent chance of getting there.

Many of us know him from his writing in the Colorado Daily and Boulder Weekly. He goes way back. In fact, Danish was in Boulder County after the mega-fauna but well before it was a community of lefties. He was one of the original lefties.

Much is revealed in a 2006 four-hour interview archived at the Boulder Public Library website.

Among his first comments: "What were the influences that shaped me as a child? Well, uh, being short, near-sighted, Jewish, and raised in the West. I wouldn't trade it for anything, any of it."

When Danish came to Boulder . . . "Boulder was a Republican town, no ifs, ands, and buts. It was very difficult for Democrats to get elected." Thanks partly to Danish, those politics have flipped. "On the Colorado Daily, we were known as those 'Commie radicals.' "

County Commissioner Deb Gardner said this about Paul Danish's entrance into the race: "I think it will be a good conversation...there will be differences between the two of us...A choice is good for democracy." I wholeheartedly agree with her.

They will debate issues like fracking, GMO crops on open space, growth and density, and the county's role in affordable housing, to name a few. Both candidates are smart and thoughtful. All of us will benefit from learning points of view that challenge what we hear in our own echo chamber.

Republicans are fielding candidates in only two other local races. Peter Sraitz will take on Steve Fenberg for Senate District 18. Bob Dillon is challenging Mike Foote for House District 12.

There will be no Republican opposition or Democratic primary opposition for Senate District 17, House District 11 or district attorney. Incumbents will fill these three seats. There will be no debate and no conversation about the issues.

The only Democratic primary battle is in House District 10, where Angelique Espinoza and Edie Hooton are competing. Even though they are both Democrats, they have significant differences on policy positions, experience and consensus building. Voters in this district will learn about different solutions to state legislative issues that they may not have considered.

Elections are supposed to be about choosing among candidates with diverse viewpoints not about rubber-stamping the status quo.

In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the "free debate of ideas will result in the wisest governmental policies." Say what you want about our current line up of county commissioners but free debate is not their strong suit. And Deb Gardner is our Joe DiMaggio of "yes" votes.

Ms. Gardner had a streak of well over 1,000 straight "yes" votes before she finally cast a "no" vote on Jan. 16 of this year. Not only did she finally pull the "no" lever but it was the first time my crack research team (me) could find that she had ever voted against her fellow commissioners. If you love groupthink and lock-step voting then Deb Gardner is your choice.

But if you believe that one group doesn't have a stranglehold on all the best ideas, then Paul Danish is worth your consideration. He is, if anything, an eclectic thinker who studies issues, listens to input from a wide variety of sources, and then comes to his own decision. You may or may not agree with him but at least you will walk away believing that he heard you. If you have ever provided input to the current commissioners at a public hearing, you will understand that once they have made up their minds they never break ranks. If your point of view differs from theirs, you should have just stayed home and not wasted your time.

Paul Danish is a name and a person that sparks controversy in the political bullrings of Boulder. He never leaves any doubt about his position.

Paul is an astute political strategist but his interest in the commissioner's job is a puzzle to me.

Why does the author of the "Danish plan" (to slow Boulder's runaway growth) want to be a county commissioner again? As a disciple of Saul Alinsky the famous community organizer (who shared a fondness with Hillary Clinton), Danish has been a CU watchdog, an advocate for Rocky Flats cleanup, a proponent of GMO crops, a pro-gun fan, and a fierce anti-sprawl flag bearer.

As writer for Soldiers of Fortune, Colorado Daily and the Boulder Weekly, no target is off limits for Danish, the former Democrat, county commissioner and Boulder city councilman. But Danish is a different character than the man I asked to be on my first city council advisory committee along with my CU dean, Dwayne Nuzum, and a dozen other Boulder leaders. He carries mixed baggage. He may see current county policies as status quo, or unacceptable.

I am a little surprised that Danish doesn't feel the same sense of satisfaction that I do as I departed political office as well as leave this EAB experience this week. Why not ride into the sunset with a sense of accomplishment instead of hoping to mimic Don Quixote de la Mancha? It's a tough rodeo out there.

Paul Danish now calls himself a Republican. As William Shakespeare wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."

Something like that.

Deb Gardner, the county commissioner whose incumbency Danish seeks to challenge, claims to be ready for a bit of competition. "A choice is good for democracy," she commented. Of course, in this case the "choice" is between a person currently holding the office and one who has already held it for a decade — new blood doesn't appear to be on the ballot.

To be fair, for those who charge that the current county commissioners are frequently guilty of groupthink, the outspoken Danish would if nothing else be a clear and welcome antidote. At the same time, for those who worry that the cast of characters in county leadership has a tendency to revolve more than it evolves, the fact that Gardner's main competition is a nine-year veteran of the position is unlikely to alleviate concerns.

Unpopular positions and a perceived lack of responsiveness from the current commissioners over the last few years may have opened the door for change in the county leadership. Whatever his current party affiliation, it is worth remembering that Paul Danish has already successfully been elected to this position twice. Given another pothole or two between now and November, it doesn't seem out of hand to imagine that he could have a shot again.

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